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| Bimal Gurung, Dipen Mallay. File pictures |
Darjeeling, July 2: Bimal Gurung today announced the name of only one candidate for the GTA polls — that of Dipen Mallay, an accused in Madan Tamang’s murder.
The move by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief is being seen as a message to the electorate that though party workers are being framed by investigators, the outfit would stand by them.
Gurung’s announcement came at a party workers’ meeting in Darjeeling Gymkhana Club. “I will only announce the name of one candidate. It is Dipen Mallay and he will be our candidate from the Pokhriabong-Chamong constituency,” he said.
Morcha leader Rosha Giri later said the rest of the names would be announced in Darjeeling on Thursday.
Mallay, a Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha member, is currently in the Darjeeling correctional home.
Observers say Gurung’s announcement was an attempt to send a signal to all the accused in the Tamang murder case that the Morcha would stand solidly behind them.
Justifying Mallay’s selection, he said: “Dipen Mallay has been framed. He is innocent and I have decided on his candidature because he was a committed worker of the party.”
Mallay, in his mid-30s, was arrested on May 25, 2011, after the CBI took over the probe from the CID into the assassination of ABGL chief Tamang.
The ABGL chief was the only hill leader who used to stand up to the Morcha. On May 21, 2010, a khukuri-armed group knifed him near the Darjeeling Motor Stand, where Tamang was headed for a public meeting. The CID named 30 Morcha supporters in the chargesheet and arrested nine of them. Mallay’s name didn’t figure in that chargesheet.
The case was handed over to the CBI after one of the prime accused, Nickole Tamang, fled CID custody at Pintail Village on August 22, 2010.
Among the arrested persons, Morcha activists Babita Ganguly and Subash Tamang have got bail.
All of them have been booked under sections for murder, rioting with weapons, unlawful assembly, criminal intimidation and conspiracy.
Gurung today appealed to his supporters to ensure that Mallay should win the elections uncontested. “Our supporters must remain disciplined. If any of our supporters files nominations as Independents, they will be expelled from the party in five minutes,” he said.
The Morcha president, who is personally looking into the selection of candidates, said the party had decided to contest the elections to ensure that youths did not have to leave the hills in search of jobs.
“Once the GTA Sabha is formed, one of the first resolutions it will pass will be on the inclusion of mouzas in the Dooars and Terai in the administrative set-up. Another resolution they should pass is on the establishment of industries in the region so that everyone is assured of jobs,” Gurung said.
“We have to prove that we are capable of running the administration. We have been a failure in running the DGHC in the past, and it is time to show Delhi that we can be good administrators so that we can achieve our ultimate goal.”
The Morcha leader also hit out at rival parties and questioned their logic behind contesting the polls. “They have not understood the importance of the GTA, which has the word Gorkhaland. The Opposition maintain that they do not even like the word GTA but they were the first to be present at the all-party meeting,” said Gurung.
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